The Long Road to Recovery
by Agent R
Summary: Following up "Not Now, Not Again". Richie sulks in the aftermath of his breakup with Kim. Later on, he runs into a former foster parent, and while he's ready to let the past go, his friends are less than willing to let the man walk away again.
1. Default Chapter

The Long Road to Recovery

Methos was more or less indisposed with a very active dream, him, back in the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, pillaging and raping like it was yesterday...He laughed in his sleep, he hadn't been this excited since...since he first took a head. However, that dream was rudely interrupted by someone rapping on the door. Methos woke up and looked over as the door came open and Amber came in.

"What is it, kid?"

"Don't mind me, I just need to get some extra bedding out of your closet," Amber replied.

"What's the matter? Did the brat have an accident?" Methos asked.

"No," Amber firmly returned, "for your information, he spent the entire night crying because he and Kim broke up...and he kept it up for so long that he threw up...he rushed into the bathroom but evidently not quick enough to save his sheets...so they're in the wash, and I'm getting some other sheets to put on his bed."

"Oh."

"And how are you?" Amber asked.

"Fine...I was having an excellent dream before you came barging in here...I was back with the Horsemen, back at doing what I did for many, many years..."

"Methos, you're already half asleep, so close the other eye and meet it half way," Amber said.

His only reply was a grunt, when she turned around, he was asleep again, so Amber took the sheets out of the closet and headed back over to Richie's bedroom.

"Allright Richie, let's get these on your bed and see if you can get through the night on them."

"I'm sorry..." was Richie's hardly audible response.

"Don't apologize to me, it's your sheets I think need the apology," Amber said.

"I don't think it matters, I won't be able to sleep tonight anyway...I just keep thinking about what happened with Kim."

"What did happen? Did you declare it was over or...what?"

"She said if I left her, then that was it...so I did...I wanted it to be over...I didn't want to have to say it...I just wanted to hang on to that feeling of us being together as long as I could...even after it was over..."

"You know, Richie, there's something I've been wondering for a long time, and I know I shouldn't ask cuz it's none of my business but...where did you meet her?"

"It was a couple of nights after you left...I got bored so I headed out to a bar...a few minutes after I showed up, she came in...we immediately hit it off and I guess you can take it from there," Richie explained.

"You must've had a pretty big fight to break up with her, you seemed smitten with her," Amber said.

"I broke up with her because of you..."

"What?" Amber asked, half shocked by the response.

"We had an argument involving you...she thought you were using me, I thought you were using her, turned out she was using me..."

Amber exhaled before replying with, "I tried to tell you..."

"But did I listen? No...I'm sorry."

"You know I wanted to be wrong?" Amber asked as she finished remaking Richie's bed, "I was hoping, maybe I was wrong about her...I was hoping you two would be perfect for each other and you'd stay together...I just wanted you to be happy...but with all due respect, I knew you could never be happy with her...But I wanted so badly to be wrong...I didn't want you to be alone and miserable..."

"And here I am miserable, but I got you..."

"Richie...there's something I have to know...when Duncan killed you, what happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean...after you died, what happened? Where did you go? Were you in hell?" Amber asked.

"Far from it...apparently I must've done something right in my life...I...I think I was in Heaven," Richie said.

"Think?"

"Well it was nice, it was peaceful...but I didn't really see what I expected...not quite as many people I don't think...I was expecting to see a few people..."

"Like Darius?"

"No, actually a....it's private."

"I can't figure it out...in Hell, you don't see anyone," Amber said.

"I saw people, a lot of them, but not as many as I was expecting to see," Richie said.

"Well...were you happy there?" Amber asked.

Richie thought for a minute and answered, "yes...but I'm glad to be back as well...because if I wasn't, I wouldn't have seen you, or Mac or Methos or Amanda or Joe or Connor again...I wouldn't be making something of myself here at Tampa...I never would've gotten revenge on Cory Raines for running me off the road and into the river, twice...and...I never would've met Kim so I wouldn't have been able to break up with her...I guess it's true what they say, it's better to have loved and lost than never loved at all...great, just great, I spend the night throwing my guts up and then talking like a poet...I guess feeling like shit really makes you do some crazy stuff."

"I know..." Amber said, "After Mario raped me four years ago, I did some pretty crazy things just so I wouldn't have to think about it again...If there's one thing I know, it's when you're feeling miserable, it's nice to be around someone who knows what you're going through...maybe at least that way you can get some sympathy."

"Here-here," Richie muttered.

Amber checked her watch, "why don't you try and get some sleep?"

"I'll try..."

"Good, and when you wake up, I'll be here by you," Amber assured him.

"You know," Richie said, "You don't have to do this."

"Yeah I do," Amber replied, "someone has to look after you, it might as well be me."

"Why?"

"Why?" Amber repeated, "Because...you're the only person stupid enough to go back to his ex that I care about...that's why...now get into bed."

"It's too hot," was Richie's weak reply.

"Allright then, have it your way," Amber said.

With one swift move, Amber jerked Richie's pants off his body and down to the floor, "that should take some of the heat off of you."

"Very funny," Richie grunted.

"What's wrong? Still too hot?" Amber asked.

Before Richie could protest, Amber gripped his shirt and tore it off of him.

"Thank God you're one of the few men who bother to wear underwear anymore...get into bed, you should be fine now," Amber told him.

Richie slowly did as commanded, he slipped into bed and Amber pulled the sheet up to his waist, "how's that?"

"Fine," Richie sighed.

Amber lightly placed her hand on Richie's arm, "cold...I can't figure how you could be hot...oh well...you go to sleep, and I'll be right here beside you when you wake up tomorrow."

Amber picked up a chair from the table and brought it over to Richie's bedside and saw he'd already rolled over and had fallen asleep on his stomach. Amber pulled the sheet down slightly and lightly rubbed Richie's back while he slept. He seemed peaceful while he slept, the last few days he'd seemed happy while he was seeing Kim, happy, but not peaceful...Right now, he was going through a painful experience Amber had no knowledge of, the least she could do was try to be of comfort to him in his time of need.

"...Richie..."

Richie slowly opened his eyes and saw Duncan standing over him, it was then that he realized he'd slept through the entire night.

"Richie, are you allright?" Duncan asked.

As Duncan reached for him, Richie scooted back on his bed, but Duncan placed his hands firmly on Richie's sides to stop him, "Hold it...what's the matter?" Duncan asked.

Richie rested against the pillows and sighed, "I didn't know anything was the matter..."

"Are you okay?" Duncan asked.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Richie asked.

"Just checking, if you're sure you're allright..."

"I am...don't worry about me, Mac, I'm fine, I just need to rest," Richie groaned as he turned over.

"There won't be any argument from me there," Duncan said.

Richie listened as he heard Duncan leave the room, when the door shut, he turned around and saw Amber approach the bed.

"What was that?" Richie asked.

"Duncan's worried about you...he heard you last night, what was I going to do?" Amber asked.

"I see...how were things last night?" Richie asked.

"After 3 o' clock you were fine, it was before that that worried him," Amber replied.

"What about you? How was your night?" Richie asked.

"Just fine, thanks, you know, you look a lot cuter when you're asleep," Amber said, "I think it's because you don't make those faces like you're going to throw up after downing too much vodka."

"Of all the things to be reminded of," Richie chuckled.

"Well, I'm going to get something to eat, what about you?" Amber asked.

"No thanks, I'm just going to stay here and rest," Richie murmured under the covers.

"Allright, I'll be back soon," Amber told him.

"Fine."

"I just don't know what I'm going to do with him, Duncan, he won't talk to me, so I don't know how to help him," Amber said.

"What are you doing now?" Duncan asked.

"Let's see, last night I cuddled him, stroked him, massaged him, soothed him, stripped him, and put him to bed, stayed by his bedside all night incase he needed me. I've practically become his helot," Amber said.

"His what?" Duncan asked.

"Helot...old word meaning servant, slave, that kind of thing...I was there for him every minute of the night, I held him in my arms, I told him he'd get over it, I pointed him in the direction of the white porcelain sink in the bathroom...all without him saying anything," Amber said.

"Well it sounds to me that you're already doing everything for him you can," Duncan said.

"Look Mac, I know what you're thinking, I'm not the type of woman who when they have a problem, they talk about it to death...I'm just trying to get some answers from him, I want to know what I can do to help him that I'm not doing already, if he would only talk to me," Amber said.

"Give him some time," Duncan told him, "you'll have to be patient with him."

"I'm trying," Amber said as she pulled a cigarette box out of her pocket.

Duncan saw yet another characteristic detail in Amber that he saw in Tessa, he knew Amber didn't socially smoke, she only did when she was worried or in a rut, so he knew she was concerned about Richie.

"Look, Amber, I've known Richie since he was a little older than you...and I know that when he has a problem, he always finds a way to get through it," Duncan said, "he's a good kid."

"I'm seeing that," Amber said, "whereas he had you, the Immortal Drill Sergeant barking at him at every given point."

"He spoke that highly of me, huh?" Duncan laughed.

"The way he put it...bootcamp would've been easier than living with you."

"Hey...I know I wasn't always easy on Richie, but I had my reasons, and I think he turned out allright considering."

"Considering he didn't meet you until he was 17, considering he'd come from a lifetime of crime and sodomizing, and considering he's to go on for the rest of his life taking Immortal's heads if he intends to survive this time...yeah, I'd say he's doing allright," Amber said.

Duncan left the kitchen, Amber took out New America and started reading again, at that time, Amanda came in, "Hey Amber, how's the book coming?"

"Let's see, so far...Steve's dead, President Bob Carpenter's dead, Maria's dead, but she was a traitor, and Jeremiah in my opinion is one sorry sonofabitch who obviously at the age of 24 convinced people he was some sort of prophet, and this land of which he runs is the new Promised Land or something of the sort...meantime, Laura's pregnant and she knows for a fact that the baby is Jeremiah's, just when she was looking into getting an abortion, Jeremiah and Maria kidnapped her, now they're hiding out in a beach house underground filled with stalagmites and stalagtics and crystals, and it's all getting more confusing by the chapter," Amber explained.

"When have you taken time to read that far?" Amanda asked.

"I started reading it when Richie started sneaking out to see Kim...and now I stay up all night watching him, then in the morning while he sleeps, I read then, too..."

"When do you sleep?" Amanda asked.

"I haven't had time to sleep lately, I've been too busy with Richie...I know he's going to get over Kim, I know he's going to get better, but I can't seem to actually convince myself of that...I don't know why," Amber said.

"These things take time, Amber...Kim obviously meant something to Richie, otherwise he wouldn't be like he is," Amanda said.

"How would you know what he's like? I'm the only one that's seen him like this since he got back last night," Amber told her.

"Kid, I'm over a thousand years old, I have seen and done many heartbreaks, and I'm familiar with every romance novel that's been released. I know the typical type, unsteady, crying, up all night over the heartbreak, it's practically predictable," Amanda explained.

"Methos told me it'd happen, and I told him I'd put up with it all to get Richie through it, and that's exactly what I'm going to do," Amber said.

"Have you told Richie how you felt about this?" Amanda asked.

"I think I've done enough of that for one week," Amber replied.

"I mean about this, Kim is out of his life and she won't be coming back, don't you have an opinion about that?" Amanda asked.

"Yeah, it's a shame she didn't do it sooner," Amber said.

"I thought you said you wanted Richie to be happy with her," Amanda said.

"I did, but that was when there was still hope, that was when it was just Methos' word about her being a dirty little whore...but once she admited it, there was nothing left to do but face facts...I want Richie to be happy, but not if it costs him his life over a woman," Amber responded.

"I know what you mean," Amanda said, "I've been 'that' woman several times before," Amanda said.

"Thank you, Human Mattress," Amber said.

Amanda turned and stared at Amber with a look of shock.

"I'm sorry, I must not be inhaling this stuff enough," Amber said as she put her cigarette out in the ashtray.

"Well what are you going to do about Richie?"

"The only thing I can, I'm going to try and help him get through this...apparently that means going through at least another week of being his helot, holding him, rubbing him, putting him to bed in his underwear...this should prove to be an interesting week," Amber sighed.

"He'll be allright," Amanda assured her, "it's just going to take some time for him to get over Kim."


	2. Part II

AN: The New America excerpts belong to Michael A. Smith and have been edited for this story.

"Richie, it is 8:30 in the morning, you can't stay in bed all day," Amber told him.

"I can try," Richie said.

"Not with me around you won't," Amber said.

"You don't know me very well, do you?" Richie asked, "When I lived at the shop, I stayed in bed as long as I could...sometimes I put on very convincing acts of sickness so I'd be able to get some rest."

"Richie, I may not know what you're going through right now, but I know this much, you cannot stay in bed the rest of your life, and you cannot stay in bed everytime you get hurt by someone," Amber told him.  
  
Richie let out a grunt and turned over in the bed, Amber got off her bed and went over to his.

"You know, Richie, I know what you're going through right now so don't tell me I don't understand why you're doing what you are."

"What're you talking about?"

"A few months after my parents got killed and Mario raped me, and I got in that fight with the two Watchers...I pretty much disappeared for 6 months, and no one ever knew."

"Where did you go?" Richie asked.

"To bed...for 6 months...I went back home and stayed in my parents' bedroom, in their bed for 6 months, hoping I could hide out from everyone and everything...Finally after the 6 months I realized I could hide and scream and cry and break things and holler all I wanted to, but it wasn't going to do me any good. My folks were dead, I had been violated, and almost died and nothing could be done to change that," Amber explained, "but I moved on with my life...of course from there on out it got pretty strange..."

"Like what?" Richie snorted.

"Drag racing, booze, cigarettes by the cartons a day, anything and everything so I wouldn't feel the pain...But soon I realized that wouldn't stop it either, I had to accept what had happened and move on with my life while I still had a life...not long afterwards I got you out of the ground, and then shortly after that, I met Duncan...So I'd say I came around to my senses at the right time...now you can try and do what I did, you can stay in bed all you like, but it's not going to change anything, Kim will still be gone, and she will still have been one of the best lovers you had...We all go through it, at least you don't have to do it alone," Amber explained.

"Maybe you have a point," Richie said, "But I'm not ready to get up and face the world again, right now."

"I understand that, you can stay in bed as long as you like, when you get up, I'll still be here, and when you finally decide to haul your carcass out of bed and act alive, I'll be here to help," Amber told him.

It was going on 2 in the afternoon, Richie was still asleep and Amber found herself half-way through New America.

[Finally,] she thought, [37 chapters in this entire book and I'm only on the 18th chapter...I like crazy fiction as much as the next guy, but this book is started to get on my last frigging nerve.]

Richie grunted and turned over and then he woke up, "Amber, what time is it?"

"1:59."

"Haven't you been to sleep?"

"Not since the night before last."

Richie did some mental math on how long it had been since she was last asleep, when he figured it out, he swung his feet around to the side of the bed, got up and went over to Amber.

"What're you doing?" she laughed.

Richie picked Amber up and put her down on his bed, "You need to get some rest, you've been fretting over me for over a week now...now I'm going to keep an eye on you, now, **you** get some rest, and **I'll** be here when you wake up."

"Considering your vulnerability, Richie, I'll humor you, so, good-niiiight," Amber said as she sank down into the sheets and rested her head against the pillows.

Richie pulled the sheet up to Amber's collar-bone and went over to her side of the room and sat on the foot of her bed to watch her sleep. After all he'd put her through and she just put up with it, it was time he returned the favor. Amber might not know about romance and heartbreak, but she knew what depression was, and she knew how to help him get through it. He appreciated everything she had done and would do for him, there weren't a lot of people who would even consider helping someone like him.

Around 4 o' clock, Amber woke up and saw Richie sitting beside her, stroking her head. This shocked her, having Richie watch her was one thing, but to do the exact same thing to her that she had to him was a whole other story.

"What are you doing?" she laughed.

"Just trying to make you comfortable," Richie said.

"Oh yeah? Get out of my way, I'll make myself comfortable," Amber jumped out of bed and headed over to the bathroom.

The door closed, and Richie heard the bathtub taps running, after about 15 minutes, the water shut off and he heard Amber make low, weird noises. He went over to the door and knocked a couple of times, "Amber are you okay?"

"I'm fine, thank you."

"Well what's all the ruckus?"

"It's hot today and I'm taking a cold bath, don't go away, I should be out in 2-3 days," Amber laughed.

"If you're sure you're okay," Richie said.

"I'm sure, I'm sure, now go find someone else to annoy for the time being, seriously I should be out in about 20 minutes," Amber told him.

"Suit yourself..."

Amber stepped out of the bathroom and saw Richie lying on the bed with his face buried in the pillows.

[Not again,] she thought.

"Are you allright?" she asked.

Richie murmured something that she didn't recognize as anything other than a sob. Amber grabbed the pillows and threw them across the bed, and jerked Richie up by his shirt, "What's going on?"

Richie sighed and looked down, "I don't want to say."

"Look, Stuart...I'm just trying to help here, but if you're not going to talk willingly, I'll have to force it out of you," Amber said.

However, Amber could tell from the look of Richie's face that she couldn't force anything out of him with all the truth serum in their side of Florida. She let go of Richie and he sank back down, crying again.

"Oh..." Amber sympathetically said, "Richie..."

As Amber got closer, Richie shoved her away from him and she fell on the floor.

"He isn't himself, Methos, there's something wrong with him, I just know it, but what it is I can't put my finger on," Amber said.

"Maybe you don't want to," Methos said, "I've been in that position a few times myself...sure found out about a lot of crazy people that way..."

"We're not talking about psychopathic nuts, we're talking about Richie...I don't know, maybe something's eating at him."

"Again, been there, done that."

"Coined that phrase, huh?" Amber added, "I'm serious, Methos, he just doesn't seem to be himself...I mean...it was one thing when he was upset over this breakup with Kim, but now he's acting even weirder."

"It goes along with the breakup, I told you he'd be too much to handle if they did, but did you listen?"

"You didn't see him, it's not the same...it's like he's got something else bothering him, in addition to breaking up with that brunette Glenn Close...I just can't figure out what it could be. I go in the bathroom for 20 minutes, when I come out, he's gone all emotional like a baby, sheesh!"

"Trust me kid, if you don't know by now what's wrong with him, maybe you're better off not knowing."

"You really believe that, don't you?"

Methos said nothing and instead started going through some of his things in the trunk. Amber started thinking...

"Methos...have you ever seen the movie "The Exorcist"?"

Again, Methos said nothing and continued digging through the trunk, so Amber went over to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Yes?" he turned around.

"Did you ever see the movie "The Exorcist"?"

"Yes...but what's that got to do with anything?" Methos asked.

"Well if you've seen the movie, then you're well aware of the behavior of Reagan, after she was possessed...and our young friend has been acting rather weird, especially this afternoon."

"Really?" Methos smirked, "well when his head starts spinning around, he throws a man out the window with his head on backwards, he starts cussing all of us out and starts talking as three different people, not to mention inappropriately using a crucifix, then we'll worry about it. Until then..."

"Methos!"

"Dry up, kid, there is nothing wrong with him other than heartbreak," Methos told her, "give him a few days and he'll be over it."

"Well for your sake, I should hope so."

That night, Richie was trying to rest but to no avail, he was in bed trying to sleep while Amber serenaded him with a few lines from a chapter of New America.

"_Thompson's voice rose passionately. "In this immigrant nation, which once welcomed everyone, regardless of religion, race or national origin, so long as they loved liberty and democracy, worked hard and observed the law, Jeremiah has set us one against the other._

"_He's managed to set blacks against white, Christians against all other religions, and citizens against their government. He's tried to ignite economic class warfare. These are simply tactics to Jeremiah, nothing more. Do you really believe the God of the universe condones fratricide to settle theological, social, economic and political differences?"_

"_Hell no!" The cry from the back of the audience cased Thompson to grin._

"_Who in the hell would want to live in New America? Up there with the intolerant Aryan elite, with their amended Bibles and their mercenary army that pillaged and raped an American city and used chemical weapons on the battlefield. Four terrorists flying a hijacked B-1 came within a hairsbreadth of killing tens of millions of Americans in a nuclear holocaust..._

"_The World War II generation is about gone from our midst, but for those of you who remain and remember, let me ask you a question: if the United States had been fifty separate nations, or five or six sectional groups in the nineteen-thirties and forties, do you think we'd have been able to resist the combined military forces of the Axis powers? Or would the swastika be flying today in this country? Do we want to see the ROSE flag displayed throughout the land?"_

Amber looked over at Richie to see if he was going to comment on the book, but saw he was asleep, or at least trying to.

Amber put the book away, got up from her seat and went over to Methos' room and knocked on the door.

"Yes?"

Amber opened the door and poked her head in, "Can I come in?"

"What about?" Methos asked, "Did you get Reagan to calm down, or do we need the restraints?"

"Very funny," Amber said as she stepped in, "actually, the little demon just got to sleep..."

"Well that's good."

"He hasn't had too good a luck lately, so I've been serenading him, reading that book to him...of course with him I have to go back a few chapters...but it's doing the trick...he actually looks peaceful."

"Peaceful?"

"Yeah, I think it helps him rest hearing about all this murder and bombs and nuclear weapons and violence just so long as it ain't happening to him," Amber explained.

"Well what's your opinion on the book?"

Amber sighed and made herself comfortable in the chair beside the door, "Honestly I'll be glad when I finish the book and can give it back to you, it's just getting weirder for me. Maria's still dead, the president's still dead, Steve was badly injured and in the hospital, and for months he and Hoffman worked out a plan to see Laura when she went to see Doctor Connolly and get her away from Jeremiah. When they're ready to give up, they see her going in, so they take their plan into action, so Laura and Steve are reunited for a few precious moments before being attacked by Jeremiah and his men. Steve and Hoffman are thrown into Jeremiah's prison where the guards beat them for etching insults on the wall, Hoffman gets beaten so bad his eyeball's hanging out of his head, before the guards can rape and castrate him, he dies in prison. And Laura meets with Katrina again shortly before Laura goes into labor, an ambulance takes Steve to the hospital to see Laura just as Jeremiah planned, right before he kills him. Katrina has the entire thing planned, she keeps her baby and switches it with Jeremiah's and leaves it in the nursery in Laura's son's place while they sneak off in an ambulance with their son... Now I'm onto the 33rd chapter, Katrina's dead, Jeremiah found out about the baby-swap and is searching to find Laura and Steve so he can kill them, while they have taken on new identities and are considering plastic surgery, they move to New York and Laura decides to keep Damien...honestly, who would want to take in a child knowing they are the son of a false prophet who built a nation where criminals on the first assault are put to death for their crimes when he himself is a rapist, a terrorist, and a murderer?"

"Sounds likes you've just about gotten the whole damn book memorized, kid," Methos said.

"37 chapters and over 360 pages is nothing to sneeze at, but I'll say this much, as long as it helps Richie sleep at night, I guess the literature is allright with me," Amber said.

"Just allright? I find it rather entertaining."

"Well I'll say this much, that Michael A. Smith is lucky there's a First Amendment, otherwise his ass would be hanging from a tree...the stuff he writes...not even Prince Rogers Nelson would touch..."

"What's going on, kid? You never come in my room in the middle of the night to discuss literature."

"Should've known you'd catch on," Amber said, "I'm just trying to get my mind off Richie...he's got me worried with the way he's been acting lately...I don't know if it's normal or not because I've never been around someone who lost someone they loved and acted...quite like this."

"I told you what you'd be getting yourself into if you got involved in this," Methos told her.

"Well apparently I was involved in this long before I knew it...Richie told Kim all about what we did when he first met her...she was here again, I actually had a chance to help him this time, and apparently it's going to be darkest before the dawn in Richie's case," Amber explained.

"It always is."

"I have a question, why does it have to be so hard? Why can't Richie just bounce back from this like any other guy?"

"Because he's not like the other guys in your classes, you should be glad of that...the others bounce back because to them, it's all about the sex, Richie actually saw potential in their relationship, you should've been happy for him."

"I wanted to be, but I knew that they'd never last, I'm sorry, but I can't just give in to popular belief or demand and expect the same thing everybody else is. I know when it's not going to happen..."

"I know..."

"But after a while, it gets pretty tiring, out of a while group of people, you're the only one who really knows what's happening...and you're always on your own, an outcast."

"Who're you telling?" Methos asked, "don't you think I've been in that position a few times already by now?"

"Well I..."

"Oh for...what's the matter with you kid? What is it? Are you finally tired of always saying no, knowing that it leaves you by yourself? What do you think would've happened if you hadn't done anything to try and stop him?"

"I don't get it, first you're telling me that I'd just be getting into trouble by stepping in, and now you're telling me that there would've been trouble if I didn't. Which is it, old man?"

"It's both, there would've been consequences to this on your part regardless of what you did...you should've known that..."

"Richie needed someone to let him know he was getting in too deep with her, I'm not sorry I did that because now he knows that he has me while he gets over her. I don't know what you want me to do because I'm in this like it or not."

"If you think I even care, you're dumber than I imagined...this is ridiculous...I can't believe I'm having this conversation with you, I can't recall the last time I had a conversation like this with someone so...stupid. What are you even doing in here? Don't you have a patient to tend to?"

"I guess I do, good evening Mister Pierson," Amber got up and slammed the door on her way out.

Methos quietly made his way out of his room and over to Richie's room, there he saw Richie asleep on the side of his bed that was pushed all the way back to the wall, and Amber asleep at the foot of the bed on the other side, rolled up in a ball like a dog. In fact, Methos could've sworn he heard her growling under her breath. Methos went over to her side of the bed, picked her up and carried her back over to his room while she mumbled in her sleep. He quietly closed the door and laid Amber down on his bed and waved his hand in front of her face to see if the breeze would wake her. When it didn't, he started tapping her, then lightly slapping her.

"Ugh...Richie, if you want to fool around, take off your jacket," she muttered.

Methos choked on a guffaw, either she was having one psychotic dream or these two really were meant for each other. However, seeing as how this wasn't going to wake her, when she rolled over on the bed in her sleep, he saw his opportunity.

Smack

Amber swatted behind herself, "pesky mosquitoes," she muttered.

So, adding a little more elbow grease to it, Methos planted a harder slap to her behind. "Wake up, kid," he grinned.

Amber opened one eye suddenly, and slowly the other, she turned and looked at Methos and jumped out of his bed. He caught her by her collar and she came back around and smacked into him and they both fell back onto the bed.

"Well," Methos said, "that was fun, shall we try it again or do you want to cooperate?"

"What do you want?" Amber sat up, "Wait a minute, what am I doing here for that matter?"

"Well..." Methos got up, "I wanted to speak with you without alarming the brat, I figured when you're out cold would be as good a time as any."

"Well I'm glad we had this talk, let's do it again sometime," Amber said as she stood up.

"Sit down."

"Methos, if you want to try that game, you find someone your own age to do it with."

"Sit!"

Just like that, Amber's behind was back on the bed.

"What is it?"

"First of all, I wanted to apologize for being rude earlier."

"And which time would that have been? You're always rude," Amber said.

"Well of course but----no, I'm talking about earlier tonight, you know, right before you slammed the door and brought the light down on my head."

"I did that?"

"Actually when it fell, it curved around my neck, but you get the picture."

"Great, apology accepted," Amber said as she got up again.

"How is he, anyway?"

"Fine, he woke up a little while ago, so I put him to sleep with the last few lines of New America...I'll get it back to you tomorrow."

"That's allright, I've been busy with something else lately...by the way, how did you find the book?"

"I'll just say that it's more based on fact than we know...I just can't imagine, a woman's entire life ruined because she was married to an FBI agent who attempted to murder this---this---what's the word for a false prophet, murderer, rapist, hypocrite, and terrorist altogether?"

"Shmuck."

"Oh yeah..."

"Of course, yutz comes to mind as well."

"I must admit, I was surprised by the ending, I really thought they'd catch Jeremiah and finally kill him...after all, you'd think after all that trouble, they'd find him and put him out of his misery..."

"And you really think something like that could happen?"

"Yeah, and if it wasn't for this guy who apparently isn't concerned about bricks being thrown through his window, if that were to happen tomorrow, we'd all be clueless..."

"I figured you'd say that."

"So what's the catch? Why're you asking me about it? It's your book."

"I'm asking you because next week to close my last week as the history professor, I'm going to have one of the students give a brief presentation on why we're even bothering with learning of the past, the answer is, to prepare for the future, and I know who the student's going to be."

"Who?"

"You."

"Me? What?"

"You're going to have to trust me on this one, and you can worry about it when you come into class next week."

"Next week?! Ah, fuck. I forgot, with Richie being here all this week, I'm going to be with him, and I'm not going to be able to fully complete the history course."

"I know, which is why you should be lucky I'm your instructor, I'll pass you if I wish, regardless of how you do and you don't have to earn that by doing extra credit work in my bed."

"So we've determined that...what the hell is it supposed to mean?"

"It means find something to do with the two hours you normally spend in history, after next week, you're finished."

"Now that I know I got nothing to worry about...I just wish there were as easy a way to help Richie...all he does is stay in his room all day, mainly in bed too, you'd think he was sick."

"He is."

"He _is_?"

"Yes, just not in any way that medicine will treat him," Methos could see he was getting nowhere fast, "mortals...have several heart problems...Immortals have them too...just different problems."

"Immortals get heart problems?" Amber asked, fully in disbelief.

"Yes of course," Methos nodded, "sometimes there's heart pains, then there's heartbreak, but most of the time it's just plain old heart-burn."

"Fine time to be a cynic," Amber said.

"I try my best."

"What am I going to do with him? I've done everything I could think about...I even told him about the time I spent six months in bed, that didn't help him."

"There's nothing more to do, you'll just have to wait for him to get over this on his own," Methos told her.

"Wonderful...can I ask you a question?"

"You have been since you were 12, what is it?"

"Did you ever know anyone who went through what he's going through?"

"Yes."

"How many?"

"Plenty."

"How long did it take for them to get over this?"

"Some...about 200 years."

"Doh!"

"Others took a few days..."

"Well...I told him I was going to help him, and that's exactly what I'm going to do."

Richie felt something tickle his nose, annoyed by it, he swatted at the air and murmured something to himself as he concentrated on rest again. Then he felt something on top of his head, he swatted at that, and in return, it swatted him across the face, bringing him to consciousness among the living. His blurred vision revealed a woman hovering over him, and a few stray long hairs of hers touching his nose.

"Hello Amber. What's going on?"

"Nothing," she smirked, "I was just trying to wake you up...I figured I'd try the same blooming tricks my cousin tried on me once."

Richie sat up and saw Amber wearing nothing but a large white T-shirt, and light blue striped boxers.

"What's going on? You got some kind of orgy planned or something?"

"No you twit, are you getting up or not?"

"I'm up, I'm up...what is it?"

"Just want to make sure you're allright."

"Last I checked, I am, now goodnight..."

Amber watched Richie sink into the sheets and mope again, Amber went over to the window and drew back the curtains, letting the sun in.

"Close those drapes, please," Richie muttered.

Ignoring Richie's request, Amber went over to Richie acting as if it were any other day, "well Richie...what'll we do today? You wanna go for a walk and get some air?"

"No..."

"You wanna...rent a movie?"

"No."

"You just want to stay in bed all day?"

"Probably..."

Amber mouthed 'okay' as she turned around, "Can I get you anything? Must be something you want...a margarita...scotch...champagne...water...a beer...heroin?"

Richie moaned as his face fell against the pillows, Amber rolled her eyes and could see they were getting nowhere fast. Thinking quickly, she went back around to his bed and threw the covers off.

"Richie, what's the matter with you? I've never seen you so lethargic......lethargic? Ah bloody hell...When did I grow Duncan's vocabulary?"

Amber heard Richie snicker against the pillows.

"Finally, at least we're getting somewhere...now come on, Richie, there must be something you want to do today..."

"There is," he said as he slowly sat up.

"What is it?" Amber asked, willing to jump at any suggestion he had.

"Sleep..."

As Richie sank back down into the sheets, Amber took a fountain pen off the nightstand and held it under Richie's seat, he shot up screaming and jumped for the ceiling.

"Richie, I know you're still getting over Kim, but you can't stay in bed all the time, it just gives you more time to mope around and think about her...you've heard of the expression out of sight, out of mind, haven't you?"

"So?" Richie asked, hanging from the light.

"So...I don't know, maybe you just need a change of scenery, get this out of your mind...people forget things all the time because they're busy...if you give yourself something to do, maybe you won't have as much time to think about Kim and you might get over her faster."

Richie thought for a minute, maybe she had something, but...

"I'm not going to school today."

"Fine...we'll skip college today, the professors don't keep too good a track of who comes in anyway...so now that that's out of the question," Amber said as she seated herself on Richie's bed, "what'll we do?"

Richie let go of the light and plopped down on the bed beside her, "I'm not sure..."

Both remained seated and quiet for several minutes, both with their legs crossed, and their chins in their hands, then Amber got an idea, "We could go to Klimatic Khaos. I hear they're showing "Footloose" this week..."

"I hate that movie."

"Okay......"The Blues Brothers"?"

Richie shook his head.

"Allright...give me a minute, I'll think of something......"Animal House?" Don't tell me you hate "Animal House", no guy I ever met has."

"Would they show it there?"

"Sure, it's funny, crude, exciting...whoops, forgot something about that movie...forget it...matter of fact, let's skip the movie, what else can we do?"

Richie thought for a minute, "We could go to a demolition derby..."

"Thank you but I've already had my internal organs twisted up enough this year, thank you very much."

"I didn't mean to compete, we could just watch."

"And where's the fun in that?.......I know, we could go to the monster truck rally."

"How's that any different from a demolition derby?"

"If you have a bunch of cars from the 50s bashing into each other, then it's a demolition derby, if you have all the cars lined up while a truck smashes them all, then it's a rally."

"No thanks."

"Why not? You and...Goldie Haun didn't meet at a rally, you told me you met at a bar."

"I just don't feel like going to the damn rally."

"Allright, no need to be so testy, geez, for a minute it sounds like you're going menstrual...okay, forget the rally...there must be something you want to do...something to get your mind off that bleached brunette bimbo....something...something...there must be something you want to do today, we just need to find out what it is...you wanna...go to the cemetery and turn over some gravestones?"

"Na."

"You wanna pants a guy and dump him in the water?"

"Na..."

Amber thought for a minute, seriously trying to think of something that would distract Richie for the day, or at least a few hours, "You wanna see what Mac and Amanda are up to? We haven't seen them in a couple of days."

"I don't feel like seeing either of them, otherwise they'll just suffocate me with lectures on how it wasn't meant to be, there are other fish in the sea, and all that crap...I get tired of hearing it after a while..."

Amber bit under her thumb-nail, trying to think, then an idea hit her, "Hey Rich..."

"Yeah?"

"Why don't I......go out for a while, pick up a few things and then we can spend the entire day in this room, sulking?"

"I don't want to stop you from doing anything..."

"Fuck it, if you're not going anywhere, I'm not going anywhere...it's like you said, Richie, we're like family, and family's there for one another...at least my family was...Trust me, there were a few times in our past when we did stuff you wouldn't believe...speaking of which, I know just what I'll do, I go to that video place, pick up a few of those sci-fi films. You know, "Return of the Living Dead", "The Blob"...but not the original, the remake, I like the remake, there's plenty of gore and action...just shows you how fucked up government and scientists are."

"Well now I wouldn't say that," Richie said.

"Well I would...a guy in my History class, Daniel Jones...says that they're 50 years ahead of what they're coming up with in the movies...just think of what kind of stunts they'll be pulling come 20 years from now...yeah, that's just what I'll do, I pick up some movies, a pizza, maybe some morphine for you..."

"Amber, I'll be fine..."

"I know you will, just want to make sure you don't slip off the road to recovery..."

"So you're going to be by my side for the next three weeks?"

"I'll be around you so much, I'll make Steve Urkel look like the guest of honor," Amber laughed as she picked up her wallet, "now, is there anything else I can get you?"

"No thanks."

"Okay, just remember, I'm younger than you, I'm smarter than you, and I know how to track you down, so don't try to leave town," Amber said as she lightly poked him in the stomach.

"Okay."

"Okay, goodbye," Amber said as she headed out the window.

Richie headed over to the window and looked down, "Hey Amber..."

Amber crawled right back up the siding up to the window-sill, "Yes, Richie?"

"You know you really don't have to do this, you don't have to look after me," Richie laughed.

"No one else ever volunteered for the job," Amber replied.

With that, Amber crawled back down the siding and down to the garage, got on her motorcycle and left.


	3. Part III

While Amber was gone, Richie decided to see if he could find any good music stations on the radio, apparently someone who worked at the station must've known him, it seemed that they were playing every breakup song known to man, going back to the 50s and 60s. By the time they got around to "Don't You Forget About Me", Richie shut the stereo off and headed towards the window.

"Perfect, just fan-freaking-tastic, next thing you know, it'll probably start pouring down rain," Richie said.

When he looked out the window, he saw that could be a very good possibility, dark clouds seemed to be moving in at a fast rate. Richie sighed, went back to his bed and fell on it, when he heard the springs, he figured it would break right then and there with him on it, but it remained in tact. Just as he heard a motorcycle heading up the street, he felt the buzz and was relieved she'd returned. A few minutes later, she came climbing back up the siding, which was difficult because she had a bag of videos thrown over one shoulder, and a pizza in one hand while she gripped the siding with the other.

"You know Richie...we really should put a fire escape ladder out here, it'll be less of a struggled to get down and up," she explained as she climbed in.

"You could've just taken the stairs," Richie said.

"Sure, I could've taken the stairs, but where's the fun in that?" Amber asked.

She put the pizza on the trunk at the foot of Richie's bed, and went over to hers and took the bag off her shoulder.

"So what'd you get?" Richie asked.

"Black olives with extra cheese."

"No, the movies, what'd you get?"

"Oh...well I got "Return of the Living Dead" parts 1-3, "The Blob", basically the entire "Halloween" series, "Carrie", "Queen of the Damned", "The Exorcist", boring as hell until Reagan gets possessed, I find the movie annoying and a bit comical," Amber explained.

"Comical?"

"Yeah, you can clearly see all her lines when she's possessed are dubbed, and that pea soup...they actually expect people to believe that's vomit?"

"Did you pick up any _good_ movies?" Richie asked.

"Oh sure, I got "Porky's" 1-3, "The Jerky Boys", "Happy Gilmore", "Dirty Work", "Animal House", "The Hollywood Knights", "Revenge of the Nerds" 1-4, "Gremlins" 1 & 2, "Big Man on Campus", "Airplane!" and "Police Squad." I swear Richie, before the week's over, we're going to need Methos to sew our sides back together," Amber said.

"Wonderful..."

"Lighten up, Richie, this isn't a mortuary, we're allowed to act alive," Amber said.

"Maybe you can," Richie said.

"Look, Richie, I know you're having trouble getting over Kim, but you can't let that rule your life," Amber said.

"It's not just that, it's...a lot of things, stuff you wouldn't understand," Richie said.

"Maybe not, just tell me this much, should I expect you to go out sleepwalking tonight and come back tomorrow and find an article in the paper about a local neighbor which includes "omit flowers"?" Amber asked.

"No," Richie replied as he sat on the bed, "I'll be allright, just gonna take time."

"That's the beauty of it, Richie," Amber said as she walked over to the bed, "We're Immortals, we have all the time in the world."

"Good thing too, probably," Richie said.

"Allright, what's going on?" Amber asked.

"Huh?"

"Something's on your mind, I can tell, it's that old psychic jinx I got, now what is it?"

Richie stood up and walked around the side of the bed, "There's this bar opening tonight out past the highway and..."

"Oh God, Richie, not another bar, you met up with Kim in a bar, you almost got killed because of a fight in a bar four years ago, and I don't suppose I have you remind you of my night at the Smorgus Board, do I?"

"She won't be there, she wouldn't chance running into me again...in any case, it's just to get out of the house, and clear my head," Richie explained.

"Oh...this, this I can understand, I've been trying to get you out of the house, nice to know it's gone through your skull," Amber said, "but there's more, you don't want me to come with you, you just want to go and be alone with about 30 strangers."

"Yeah."

Amber inhaled and remained motionless for a minute before she stood up and reached her conclusion.

"Fine...okay, whatever you want to do."

"Amber, I don't want you taking this the wrong way," Richie said.

"I'm not, you're forgetting, I wanted to be alone for six months...one night on the town's nothing, you go on, have a good time, just try not to bring anyone home."

"As drunk as I plan on getting, it'll be a wonder if I can get home myself," Richie said.

"We'll worry about that tonight," Amber said.

The time neared one in the morning, everyone else had gone to bed, Methos made his way down the stairs to the living room where he found Amber lying on the couch, reading another book.

"What on Earth are you reading now?"

"The Missing Man."

"Oh...kid..."

"Yeah?"

"What the bloody hell are you doing up at this hour?" Methos asked.

"I'm waiting for Richie to get back, he went out to a bar tonight to get some air and clear his head," Amber explained.

"Yeah, clear it, we should just hope he doesn't lose it, he certainly risked it plenty times before, one time I'll never forget," Methos said.

"When was it?" Amber asked.

"That was when he found out who I was...I mean, before that, he just knew me as Adam Pierson...there was some fool going around using my name, trying to spread peace to other Immortals, some bloody fools always fell for it, and our young friend was no exception...the only difference was he lived to regret it, for a while..."

"No kidding? What's this guy do? Lure them into this peace malarkey, challenge them to fight him, and when they lay down their swords, he'd chop their heads off?" Amber asked.

"No, but it would've worked for him anyway...he just managed to get that rubbish through their skulls hard enough that they fell for it. Then the next Immortal they met...well I don't suppose I have to tell you what happened afterwards."

"No, I suppose not," Amber said.

At that time, the buzz hit both of them, a few seconds later, Richie came in the front door and slammed it, making his way into the living room, seeming a nervous wreck. He was completely incoherent and hysterical. Amber jumped off the couch and grabbed him before he hurt himself.

"Richie, what happened? What's the matter? Was there an accident? A fight? What?"

While Amber shook Richie, trying to get some answers from him, Methos went over to the couch, pulled out a first aid kid from behind, opened it, took out a syringe and a bottle of liquid. After ridding the excess from the syringe, Methos got up behind Richie and injected it into his back. Richie let out a disoriented growl as the drugs took effect and he practically became a zombie.

Amber felt him fall off balance and moved him down onto the couch, "What's the matter with him?"

"Don't ask me," Methos said, "I'm not Dr. Feud, I'm just the anesthetist."

"Amber rolled Richie onto his back and moved him, he didn't respond, "What the hell is that stuff?"

"A mixture of morphine and valium, guarantees to knock someone out like a light," Methos explained.

"Man, what could've happened to him?" Amber asked as she looked down at his body."

"Wish I knew, you think he ran into that harlot again?" Methos asked.

"I doubt it, besides, if he had, he wouldn't be like this, he might be at the police station for an assault charge, but he wouldn't be incoherent," Amber said.

"Well, after what I gave him, he won't be getting up until morning, I suggest we turn in," Methos said.

"You go ahead, I'm gonna stay down here incase he wakes up," Amber replied.

"Suit yourself."

As Methos headed upstairs, Amber went over to the closet, took a sheep and covered Richie with it up to his chest. She then went over to the chair beside the couch and sat up, staring at him.

Morning came in a short amount of time, Amber woke up and realized she'd fallen asleep in the chair. Looking over at the couch, she saw that Richie was still asleep.

Must've been a pretty good combination, she thought as she headed over to the window.

She drew back the curtains and saw it was getting light out, the sun wouldn't be rising for about half an hour, but it was already light enough to get a good idea of what was outside. Looking back, Amber saw Richie turn on his side and open his eyes. She quickly made her way back over to him, "Are you allright?"

Richie looked up at her, and it seemed he was going to say yes, but instead he just looked down for a minute before responding, "No."

Amber brought down the sheet from his body and sat at the arm of the couch on the other side, "What happened last night, Richie? Tell me what's going on so I can help you...I don't want this to be a repeat of last time."

"Neither do I," Richie replied.

Amber couldn't help but notice Richie's hoarse voice crack, it normally meant two things, one, either he'd had too much to drink, or two, he'd been crying for some time. Slowly, Richie got off the couch and went over to the window, without looking at Amber, he slowly went into details, "Last night was like Heaven to me...first time I really felt I had my life back. I was...putting away a few drinks, enjoying the night, and then _he_ showed up."

"He? He who he?" Amber asked, "An old girlfriend's father? Cory Raines? Joe Scanlon? I know, Sergeant Powell, Powell the pain in the ass transferred to Florida...right?"

"I wish," Richie replied quietly.

Richie slumped down onto the space under the windowsill and looked over at Amber, "this guy...he...he......he......."

Whoever it was, obviously wasn't one of Richie's better enemies, Amber figured as she lit a cigarette, he'd never had any trouble describing them.

"His name is..........Jason Hughes."

Amber bit down on the cigarette and said, "Well pardon me for sounding rude, but who the fuck is Jason Hughes?"

Richie looked up at her and said, "He was my old foster father..."

The cigarette fell out of Amber's mouth as she looked on in complete shock.

"Your foster father?" Amber asked.

"Well, one of them. I went through them faster than you do cigarettes," Richie said.

"How long did you stay with this guy?" Amber asked.

"Let's see, Tracy Bender was 4 months, Tony Conner was 6 weeks...a...about 3 months," Richie said.

"How old were you?"

"Uh.....14."

"What all did this guy do to you?" Amber asked.

"Let me put it this way," Richie said, "It's a wonder I didn't become Immortal sooner."

Well, that was it for Amber, immediately she was throwing her jacket on and said, "What's this guy's address? I'm going over there and I'm ramming a tire iron through his mouth and out the back of his head."

Richie went over to her and jerked her back by her collar, "You're not going to do anything, Amber."

"And why the hell not? You just admitted this guy nearly killed you," Amber said.

"Yeah, 11 years ago, I can't get any justice for that now, do you think any officer around here would even be willing to believe me after all this time?" Richie asked.

"Who the fuck said anything about cops? I'm going over there and serving justice myself...On second thought, what's this fucker's phone number? I'm going to call him up and give him a good what for."

Amber picked up the telephone book and started going through the pages.

"Amber, let it rest, it's all in the past, he can't touch me now," Richie said.

"Maybe not, but he sure as hell can make you suffer here and now, do you remember how you were last night? Methos had to sedate you with valium and morphine so you'd calm down," Amber told him.

Amber picked up the phone and dialed a number from the book, Richie grabbed the receiver and tried to get it away form her to hang up. Through that struggle, Amber heard it ring and get picked up from the other end, _"Hello?"_

"Hello," Amber replied in a dark tone, "Is this Jason Hughes?"

"_Yes it is, do I know you?"_

"Not yet, you prick, but you're going to, I'm about to come through this phone and!"

Amber got cut off as Richie managed to get the receiver away from her and hung it up.

"Richie, what the hell was that for? I could've had this guy right where I wanted him," Amber said.

"And what good would that do? Amber, you can't just rush into this because you're angry...I've been mad as well with this guy for 11 years. I moved on from it."

"If you remember it so well 11 years later, you can't very well have moved on from it, could you?" Amber asked.

"Amber, you just don't understand," Richie said, "in life, things don't always work out the way you plan, and sometimes you have to accept that."

"Accept that?" Amber repeated, "Oh, I'm supposed to accept the fact that this guy used you as a punching bag 11 years ago and everybody looked the other way, pretending nothing was wrong, and this guy is still breathing? Hell no, when I get through with him, they're going to need a genius to identify him."

Richie picked Amber up and held her in the air for a few seconds, "Amber, will you stop!? This isn't your battle."

"No, it's yours, but you've chosen not to fight because you don't want to get involved with this guy again," Amber said as Richie put her down, "Richie, sometimes in life, there are times when it is okay to be a pacifist, but now is not one of those times...if this had been in my neighborhood, do you know what we would've done?"

Richie shook his head.

"Every person living in that area would gang up on him, kicking and beating and knocking the shit out of him until the morgue was notified," Amber said.

"Maybe that's what you do, it's not what I do," Richie said.

"No, what you do is go around tracking down people you've never met and taking their heads...how the fuck is that any different? You know this guy, you know what he has done and gotten away with, he is your enemy, and he is yours for the killing. They're all just obstacles in life, you get rid of them and move on to the next one until you've finished with them all," Amber said.

Amber calmed down to catch her breath, then she reached into her jacket, took out another cigarette and said, "Did he see you?"

"No, I saw him come in and I left, why?"

"Well...I'm trusting aside from size, not a lot of you changed between the time you stayed with him, and the time you stayed with Mac. Now, some 8 years later you look practically the same, the last thing you need is this guy recognizing you," Amber said, "but don't you worry, after tonight, he won't be looking at anything."

"Amber, I don't want to fight him, can't you get that through your head? He's not my enemy anymore," Richie said.

"Sure he is, Richie, he'll always be your enemy, even after he's dead, you know why? Because everybody has enemies and they all make their mark, doesn't mean you have to just stand by and let him walk all over you even in this day and age. Everybody has enemies, I have enemies, Duncan has enemies, Methos has so many enemies it's no wonder he's a myth. Everybody has enemies, even the pope has enemies...well wait a minute, the pope it's easy to understand why he has enemies...but I digress...Richie, this isn't something that goes away and I'm not about to let this fucker walk away again after what he did to you," Amber responded.

"Nice to know somebody cares," Richie said, "but you don't get it, I don't want to put up with him anymore, I don't want to get involved with him again, I don't want any of this."

"You also didn't want or ask to get stuck with the people you did in life, but you got them anyway. Now you can walk around here, knowing you let this guy go, and pretending you have no regrets. But just think about this, for every second you continue not doing anything, it'll equal to another sleepless night wondering what would've happened if you had just done something now that you had a chance," Amber explained.

"Amber you don't understand, I don't want this," Richie said.

"Well you've got it anyway, but on the bright side, you also got me, who is more than happy to volunteer to go over there and rip the black heart out of this guy's chest," Amber replied.

"I'm sure you are, but Amber, you can't spend your whole life fighting someone," Richie said.

"Maybe you forgot, we're Immortals, and that's what we do."

"Sometimes you just have to know when to let it go and end the fight before someone dies," Richie said.

Amber remained quiet and with her cigarette in one hand, looked down at the floor, seemingly at a halt of her protests. Richie went over to her and knelt down to her current height. He kissed the top of her head and told her, "Don't spend a lot of your time worrying about this. It'll just be another regret for you one day, wondering why you spent so much time trying to kill Jason."

Richie got up and started to head out of the room, Amber inhaled the smoke in one breath until the filter was the only part remaining. Placing the filter in the ashtray, Amber headed up to Methos' room.

"He wouldn't say what this guy did to him?"

"No, but I know Richie's past, so I can pretty much draw my own conclusion to it," Amber replied.

"And he wants nothing to do with...your plot to commit the most gruesome murder since Jeffery Dahmer?"

"That's right."

"Okay...so what're you going to do?"

"I was thinking of going over there and killing him right now, you wanna come with?"

"I think you need to think this over a bit more."

"What's to think about? I go over there, I make him suffer, I bash his skull in, it's very simple," Amber said.

"How? How do you plan to make him suffer?"

"Return everything he did to Richie for starters, then I was thinking of walking all over him in steel-toed boots, then I was thinking of taking out my knife and giving him an amateur castration and vasectomy, what do you think? Too mediocre?"

"Probably too gruesome...anything else?"

"Well, I've been doing some reading on the murders of those prostitutes from 1888 in London...and I was thinking..."

"What? You really want to reach inside and see WHAT makes that man tick?" Methos asked.

"Probably not...but not just that, he cut off an ear of one prostitute, ripped out their intestines, some of them had their throats hacked open so wide the only thing that kept it from being ruled a decapitation was a few strings of skin holding together," Amber replied.

"Kid, whatever you plan on doing is up to you, but after hearing this, just make sure he doesn't get off easy," Methos told her.

"Right."

"And one more thing."

"What is it?"

"When you plan to make your move, take the kid with you, let him see what payback looks like," Methos smirked.

"Now Amber...I know you want to help Richie, but I don't think killing this man is called for," Amanda said.

"You know just as well as I do that he doesn't deserve to walk, besides out of the two of us, I'm the only one with enough gall and nerve to do it. I'm the only one who isn't scared of walking all over this man. I am the only one with any damn courage to go over there and actually do this," Amber said.

"Do you even know where that word came from?" Amanda asked.

"What?"

"Courage...it comes from the French, meaning 'heart'," Amanda said.

"Is that true?"

"You going to pick a fight with a woman a thousand years old?" Amanda asked.

"Well...then apparently I'm the only one with a heart to be troubled by the fact that this guy used Richie as a punching bag when he couldn't defend himself, and now that he could do whatever he wants to with this guy, he won't," Amber said.

"You've already talked this over with Methos?"

"Yes."

"What was his suggestion?"

"I don't let him off easy and I take Richie to see what I do."

"Uh-huh..."

"So, what's the suggestion of the world's oldest living tramp?"

"My suggestion is you don't go through with it, it's one thing to make him suffer but if you kill him..."

"If I kill him he'll go straight to hell and then he'll suffer, the only difference is we won't be able to watch," Amber said.

"Well think about it this way, you're an Immortal, he's not, if you kill him, do you think that makes you any better than he is?"

"Yeah, and it makes me a hell of a lot better than those cops cuz first of all, I'd never do anything like that to a kid, especially one like Richie. And second of all, at least I'm doing something to make him pay for what he did to Richie," Amber said, "I'm sorry Amanda, I can't do it, heart or no heart, I'm not going to let this guy walk away, knowing what he did to Richie. Someone messes with my friend, there's gonna be hell to pay."


	4. Part IV

Everyone heard it, a blood curdling, almost inhuman scream, coming from the bedroom across the hall. Duncan and Amanda almost fell out of bed at the sound of it, they slipped on their robes and went across to the other room. They saw the lithe figure arched on her bed with Methos standing over her, Richie was still in his bed.

"What happened?" Duncan demanded to know.

No one spoke; they all just exchanged confused looks. Duncan didn't know what was going on, but he was tired of their charades.

"What's going on here?" Duncan asked, "Amber, what happened?"

Amber looked at Methos as if waiting for a response, but he said nothing and did nothing. Finally she said, "Nothing Mac, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get you up, just go on back to sleep, I'm fine."

"If it's any reassurance, MacLeod," Methos said, "I'll stay with her until she falls asleep again..."

"I'm not too sure about that," Duncan said, "are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, now go on to bed, I'll be fine," Amber assured him.

Still unconvinced, Duncan and Amanda turned and left, but Methos stayed, stroking Amber's head, he waited until he was sure they were back in bed, then he picked Amber up.

"Where are you going with her?" Richie asked.

"Shhhhhhh," Methos replied, "you want MacLeod back in here? Go back to bed, everything will be allright."

Methos carried her over to his room and sat her down on the bed.

"What happened kid? I haven't heard anyone scream like that in centuries," Methos said.

Amber wasn't even looking at him, she had her head tilted to the side and was looking over at his wall, as if she was ashamed to face him.

"Kid, you know bloody well you can tell me whatever the problem is, you've been doing it for the last three months, now what happened?" Methos asked.

Amber turned back over and looked at Methos, seeming only half awake, "I had this horrible dream, you wouldn't believe it. I dreamt that I was in Richie's body when he was living with that bastard, and there wasn't a damn thing I could do to stop him from beating the hell out of me. I—I think I know what...exactly what Richie went through when he was living with that bastard. Now...all my life, ever since anyone raised a hand to me, I've just gone and repaid the favor. A guy hits me, I beat the shit out of him and move on, but Richie...Richie isn't like that, at least he wasn't...a real pacifist, and...I just can't imagine living like that, always afraid the guy I'm living with is gonna beat the hell out of me."

"And you never will have to worry about that, you know that," Methos told her.

"I just don't get it, I was always a non-violent person most of my life, but the minute I got introduced to the real world by a kick in the ass, I just naturally took to swinging, KO-ing assholes left and right, it's what I do. Richie on the other hand was introduced to it long before me, and he did nothing about it."

"Richie is a different person than you," Methos told her, "don't forget you lived with your parents most of your life, he didn't. since he was about five, he's been moved from one home to the next."

"Still, he was in a far more violent atmosphere at a young age than I was, so it still makes no sense. And now that he can fight back...he won't do it, I can't figure it out. I don't understand it, do you, Methos?"

"What? You're asking me? A man who went 200 years without taking a head? You're asking me for advice on –well that **would** make sense...I don't know kid, you can't spend your life worrying about other peoples' problems."

"Methos, by the turn of next century, I'm gonna be living with one of you two basket cases, so I make it my business to worry about other people."

Methos sat on the footboard of the bed watching her, "You can even the score tomorrow, tonight get some sleep."

Methos crawled in besides Amber, under the covers.

"I'm not going to sleep tonight," Amber said, already with her eyes closed, "I am going to sulk and be miserable, and think about all the shit that's happened in Richie's life, and he hasn't said one word to me about it in the six years that I've known him. Goodnight."

6:00 A.M., Duncan crept out of bed and headed over to Riche's room, he knocked on the door and heard no response, so he went in. The light next to Richie's bed was on, he was up, dressed, and sitting on the bed, cleaning a knife.

"Are you allright?" Duncan asked.

"Yeah, never better," Richie said, "slept like a rock last night, and you?"

"Oh I've had better," Duncan said.

He neglected to mention that some of those 'better nights' were spent drunk and blacked out.

"Richie, is there something going on that I should know about?" Duncan asked.

"No, why??" Richie asked.

"Well I can't help but notice how strange everybody's become lately, are you sure there's nothing wrong?" Duncan asked.

"Yeah Mac, I'm fine, everything's perfect, now go on your run," Richie said.

Duncan couldn't help but notice how red Richie's eyes were, as if he'd sunburned them, or if he'd gone without sleeping for a while. He also noticed how his eyes flinched and repeatedly blinked, as if they hurt, or as if he was struggling not to cry. But he felt he wasn't going to get anymore out of Richie without starting a conflict, so he left.

Duncan decided before leaving, to see if he could get anything out of the old goat, Methos. So he went over to his room and knocked on the door, and when he didn't hear anything, he went in. He stopped in the doorway when he saw Methos and Amber in the same bed, and Amber with a sheet wrapped around her body. Duncan went over to Methos and shook him to wake him up.

"What is it?" Methos yawned.

"That's what I'd like to know," Duncan said firmly.

Methos jerked up when he heard Duncan's voice, "What do you want, MacLeod?"

"What's _she_ doing in here?"

Methos looked over at Amber, and briefly replied, "Long story."

"I've got time..."

"She wasn't sleeping well after she woke up and I figured to let the brat sleep and bring her in here so she wouldn't disturb him, now goodnight."

As Methos sunk back down into bed, Duncan jerked on the collar of his shirt, making it tight around his throat, so he sat back up, "Now what is it?"

"There's something screwy going on between everyone here and I want to know what it is," Duncan said.

"MacLeod, you are just bloody paranoid after 400 years, now goodnight."

"Methos, you and everyone else in this house know something that I don't, now what is it?"

Methos sunk down into bed with his head resting against the board, "If I tell you, then can I go back to sleep?"

"We'll see, now what's been going on around here?" Duncan asked.

"Jason Hughes," Methos spat.

"Who is he?"

"HE," Methos hissed, "Is Richie's foster father from when he was 14, he's in town, and while he is ready, willing and able to let the past go, this kid is ready to rip into the bastard with her bare hands, and I can't say I blame her."

"How can you say that?" Duncan asked.

"Well after what he did, could you forgive him?" Methos asked, "You didn't forgive me for what I did, you just accepted it."

"And Richie's accepted this, so why can't Amber?"

"Because MacLeod, she learned long ago the only way to right violence is with more violence, that's her belief and I'm not going to intervene. Bloody hell, Amanda and I have been giving her pointers on what to do when she meets the guy."

"Methos!" Duncan exclaimed.

"Relax, MacLeod, she always says things far worse than what she does, she won't do anything **too** serious when she finds this guy," Methos said.

"Jason Hughes!" Amber repeated for the 10th time.

"Calm down miss," an officer at the station said, "Now tell me, what's your business with finding this man?"

"He was the foster father of my roommate, I have to see him."

"Is it an emergency?"

"Yes."

"Health-related?"

"Hell yeah, I'm gonna knock the bones out of that bastard," Amber said.

"Miss, if you don't calm down, I'm going to have **you** arrested, now why must you see this man?"

"11 years ago he beat the hell out of my roommate and I want to find him and even the score between them."

"Now look, miss, I don't know what your problem is, but if we had any files on this man..."

"Jason Hughes! Jason Brennan freaking Hughes! He's 49 years old, from Seacouver Washington, and 11 years ago he committed over 76 acts of child abuse, child endangerment, domestic disturbance, attempted murder AND assault and battery, now either you get me the files for this bastard, or I'm going to track him down myself, drag him over here and have one of your deputies turn him into a sponge. AM I MAKING MYSELF CLEAR?!"

"Ma'am, clearly you're under some serious stress, so I suggest you..."

"I'm up a tree is what I am! This man almost KILLED my roommate when he was 14 and you're not going to arrest him?"

"You said yourself these acts were committed 11 years ago, AND in a different state on the other side of the U.S., even if we found him, there is no way we could charge him with any of this."

"What a load of crap! If someone in this state murdered a 12-year-old girl in Kansas, who wasn't arrested and walked away from the homicide a free man, in this state, are you saying you couldn't arrest him?"

"If we found a man who murdered a child in another state with no witnesses, we would have to---"

"Fuck what you would have to do with procedures, if you don't find this man and see to it that he pays for what he did to my friend, I sure as hell will and I'll see to it that he lives to regret it, but not for long, now are you going to get me the files on this fruity ass bastard or not?"

Richie checked his watch, 1:20, Amber had gone out some time ago and hadn't returned, so either she had errands to run, or she was going to make the works of Charles Manson look like a playground rumble. Then he felt the buzz, and instantly felt relieved when she walked through the door, he noticed she had a shoebox in her hands.

"I've been worried about you," he said.

"You don't need to worry about me, Richie, I uh......I stopped by the police station earlier and..."

"You WHAT? Why?"

"I went down there to see if Sergeant Lassard was running the precinct, what do you think? I went down to find out what I could about Jason Hughes, found out he's already got a record, but nothing they could put him behind bars for."

"Like what?"

"DUI, attempted robbery, domestic assault, and attempted rape...either this guy knows his attorneys or the state of Florida doesn't see it as their job to stop what they themselves do."

"They never did...so what's the point?"

"He's living in an apartment about six miles from here, and he's going to get a visit from death tonight."

"Methos is going with you?"

"No, I'm going to send him straight to hell providing everything goes according to plan, I also mentioned what he did 11 years ago."

"You WHAT!?"

"I didn't give any names, in any case, it didn't matter, they said they couldn't arrest him because the 'alleged' crimes weren't committed within the area, and they were committed longer than 8 months ago. Apparently Tampa will only wait 8 months before they give up on stopping crime."

"Amber, please tell me you are not going to go through with this tonight," Richie said.

"Why are you so afraid of this guy? He can't do anything to you now, and if he does, I'll kill the fruity little bastard with my bare hands, now whether or not you want to admit it, something has to be done with this guy and whether or not you want to come, I am going over there tonight and knocking the shit out of him. Now are you in or not?"

Richie said nothing and instead went over to his bed and sat at the foot of it. Amber sat down beside him and put her arm around him.

"Richie, why are you afraid of this man? Why now? I've never known you to be afraid of anyone before in your life."

"It's hard enough to deal with things as they happen, but to see the same person responsible for it some years later, it's just proof that they got away with what they did. I don't like facing that."

"So you just prefer altogether to pretend that nothing's wrong?"

"It gets easier as time passes, you get used to it."

"Not me, I have to much pride to let this fucker walk away with what he's done. And I'll tell you another bloody thing, I have too much 'heart' as Amanda says, to leave this to the authorities to sit on a shelf for 20 years. Now I'm going over there tonight and odds are only one of us will come out alive, and it ain't gonna be him, do you want to see him pay or not?"

"I still don't know how I let you talk me into this," Richie said.

"I didn't, I gave you an ultimatum and you took the latter, it'll be over before you know it," Amber replied.

Amber parked the car and they got out, they headed into the apartment building, got in the elevator and headed up to the floor where Jason was living. Amber knocked on the door and waited for the man to answer, her heart in her stomach, Richie's in his throat. The door finally opened and Amber saw a man standing little over 6 feet tall, near 200 pounds, with a bad complexion and a scar under one eye.

"Jason Hughes."

"Yes I..." the man looked up from Amber and looked behind her at Richie, "Who are......Richie Ryan? Well fancy that, what are the odds of..."

"You keep your damn hands off of him," Amber said, "that's why we're here, I'm going to see to it that you pay for what happened 11 years ago in Seacouver."

"What are you talking about?" Jason asked.

Amber jerked Jason down to her height by tugging on his shirt, "I don't believe we've been properly introduced. Jason Hughes, I'm Amber Jenzon, Richie's roommate, now let me introduce you to MY FIST!"

Before Jason could reply, Amber punched him hard in the jaw, as he backed up, Amber kicked him in the mouth and caught in a daze, he turned around and fell over onto his stomach. Amber stepped on his back firmly with one foot, right before she jerked her foot up his back, ripping deeply into his skin with her custom made steel-bottom boots. Jason let out inhuman screams of excruciating pain as Richie waited by the door and watched, a sinister smirk slowly forming on his lips as he saw the revenge he waited so long for. Amber then kicked Jason in the mouth as he turned his head and he rolled completely over as Amber kicked him in the stomach. It was then that Richie realized what Jason was doing. Under the chair right behind him was a handgun, he reached over and grabbed it, in an instant pulled the trigger, and lodged a bullet directly into Amber's chest. Richie heard the bullet hit the tiled floor; he looked on in horror at the grotesque sight. No matter how many times he saw it, he never really got used to a fatal injury from a bullet.

"You killed her!" Richie exclaimed, unable to find any other words.

"I...I...I had no choice, she was going to kill me, it was self defense, she would've killed me," Jason muttered, ".......and you knew that, didn't you?!"

Richie didn't say anything, he just hoped Amber revived soon enough to see him finish beating the crap out of Jason.

"I don't believe this, you brought her up here...to kill me?" Jason asked.

"She brought herself, she decided to take me so I'd see it. Now I know why she wanted to, she didn't know you, but she knew what kind of person you were."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jason said.

"You know very well what I'm talking about, hell, I put up with you for three damn months, I should know. You beat the shit out of me if I breathed, and every day, I hoped to God that I would live to see the day that you got everything in return...Now it finally has, but nothing she could ever have done would come close to half of what you did to me!"

Richie felt a vibration against his back as someone pounded on the door.

"Open up! Police!"

Richie moved away from the door as he heard someone jigger with a gun, immediately, four bullets were blasted through the door and it was kicked in. They only saw Amber's body for a brief second before they turned to Richie and asked him what happened.

"I can't really say, all I know is he was on the floor and he grabbed a gun and shot her," Richie said.

They approached Jason and cuffed him, and walked away reading him his rights over his obscene protests to their barging in on his private property.

"What the hell is going on?"

"A neighbor called and complained about a ruckus, fortunately we were passing by the area, you have the right to....."

Richie listened as they continued down the hallway until they were inaudible, then he went over to where the bullet landed. It was covered with a near black bloody mucus of some sort. Now Richie was relieved she hadn't revived just yet, if the police saw Amber come back to life, they'd.....what was he thinking? The police wouldn't help Amber any more with Jason than just giving her the files, why would they come now? He then felt the buzz as Amber drew in a long breath and opened her eyes.

"Well Richie, how was my performance? Did I die convincingly enough?"

"Amazing, you should've seen the look on his face, I swear, after he shot you...and then the cops came and...wait a minute, something's wrong here," Richie realized.

"What is it?"

"The cops wouldn't help you with this guy before, why would they come now?" Richie asked.

"Because these are new cops, they just started working down at the precinct, the older brothers of some of our classmates."

"Aren't they gonna find it suspicious that your body's gone?"

"Na, they're in on the take, I told them I was going to fake my death, but in order to do so, he was going to beat the hell out of me. So they're going to pull the right strings to get him locked up," Amber said.

"How?"

"Well I did a little more research and found out that he has killed a couple of people in fights before, so this would just be one more notch in the wall," Amber said, "don't worry, the cops don't suspect a thing about us, and they'll see to it that the fruity ass bastard gets what he deserves."

"Well who called them?" Richie asked.

"I did," came a feminine voice from the doorway.

Richie and Amber turned around when they felt the pre-Immortal buzz. In the doorway stood a young woman looking early in her 20s.

"Who are you?" Richie asked.

"Did I do allright?" she asked Amber.

"Beautifully, nobody suspected a thing," she replied.

"I heard the fight from the floor above, it was very convincing, you must have had a lot of practice to keep the bullet from injuring you, yet making it seem as the cause for your demise," the lady said.

Richie stared on in puzzlement at the lady.

"Richie, this is Yvonne Taylor, we met at the University, Yvonne, this is Richie Ryan, my roommate and the intolerant, arrogant towhead I was telling you about," Amber told her.

Yvonne extended her hand to Richie's and shook it firmly, "Nice to meet you, Amber has told me so much about you."

"Wish I could say the same," Richie said, "You knew this was going to happen?"

"Well she told me she had a score to settle with a relative and needed some assistance, so I offered to help, are you allright?" Yvonne asked.

"Fine, just fine..."

Fine and shocked, a woman like this, so beautiful, so seemingly innocent, with no idea of what she would become.

"So we have another Immortal going to the University, huh?" Richie asked when they returned home.

"**Pre**-Immortal," Amber said, "she doesn't know what she is yet, I haven't bothered to tell her, she'll find out soon enough, she doesn't need to be getting any ideas yet. Now how are you holding up?"

"Fine, I'm fine, I heard that Jason's gonna be locked up for 47 years with no parole, so I guess that's good."

"By that time, he'll be dead and in hell so it won't matter, should he even live that long," Amber said, "you saw what I did to him."

"Yeah...I still can't believe that there has been a pre-Immortal in our school and you didn't bother to tell me!"

"You never asked, besides I don't really know her. We attend different classes, we just bumped into each other one day, and that's that."

"Oh..."

There was a knock on the doorframe to their room, so they turned around and saw Methos and Amanda standing in the doorway, "So, Erik, Lyle, how was the battle?" Methos asked.

"The fight's over, Jason is going to jail for 50 years, Richie has his life back together now, and he's got a lady in mind for later."

"What a shame we weren't there to see what happened," Amanda said.

"You don't have to worry about that, I planed a spy camera on Richie that recorded the entire thing, and then had it transferred to a tape. We can watch it tonight," Amber said.

Amber picked up a videocassette and handed it to Methos, "Let's go, I want you guys to see this while the adrenaline is still high."

They headed out of the room and down to the living room, Richie followed behind Amber, and Amanda followed behind Richie, and Methos started to follow behind Amanda when he ran into Duncan.

"What's going on?" Duncan asked.

Methos handed him the tape, "let's find out, shall we?"


End file.
